Why u should hire me! Job seeking via Twitter

Job hunters who've whittled their resumes down to one page have a brand new challenge - getting them down to 140-character Tweets; make that 120 if you leave room for retweeting.

Twitter is no longer just the capital of trivia, as more and more recruiters are using it, said Jason Alba, chief executive of career site JibberJobber.com and author of  "I'm on LinkedIn. Now What?"

While he said he sees plenty of  "garbage," he's also seeing useful applications, such as Twellow.com, where people can search for recruiters and research employers. Job sites such as TweetMyJobs.com and TwitterJobSearch.com are also popping up.

Those who see Twitter as a job-search tool need a succinct but compelling "twesume," said Allison Hemming, founder and president of the Hired Guns, a Manhattan talent agency.

To create one, people need to "get in touch with their 'very short story' . . . what they do best and what they want the world to know about them," she said. It calls for focus and editing, and, "if your story is neither short nor compelling," she said, "people won't share it with others. And that's networking death."

Laurie Broderick, of Port Washington, is a branding, strategy and communications specialist who has been looking for contract or full-time work for a year and a half, since she was caught up in a downsizing. She has just developed a twesume that includes terms such as "linchpin and puzzle solver."

Such a tweet, just one part of a job search arsenal, she said, should be tight and intriguing enough "to get people to smile or ponder" and want to check you out further on venues like Facebook and LinkedIn.

"I feel like I have to be out there in as many places as possible," Broderick said.

Indeed, Deb Dib, an executive career consultant in Medford, reiterates that by the time employers see a job seeker's traditional resume, "they've already Googled you and looked at you on LinkedIn and Twitter." And that would be on the small screens of their BlackBerrys and iPhones, said Dib, co-author of "The Twitter Job Search Guide - Find a Job and Advance Your Career in Just 15 Minutes a Day," due out in March.

For some, a twesume can be a challenge to write, she said. But it can be multi-purposed: You can print it on the back of your business card, make it the lead sentence in a cover letter, even include it on the heading of your resume.

As Hemming turned to Twitter more in her recruiting initiatives, she saw a need for people to learn to market themselves in this most minimal of settings. But don't view twesumes as simply a laundry list of skills,said Hemming, whose company is running a twesume writing contest to help job hunters learn the technique. (Entries are due Monday. Enter at TheHiredGuns.com under events.) So exhibit some enthusiasm, originality and personality, she advises.

Jocelyn Brandeis, a Manhattan public relations consultant with 17 years' experience, says if you've done a good job with your 30-second elevator pitch, this should be a cinch. In her recently posted tweet, she wrote that she's an award-winning public relations consultant "who will talk about you all day long!"

Social networking is a must for any job seeker, Brandeis said.

"If you don't have an online presence of some sort, you're missing the boat. Welcome to the digital age."

Twitter tips for your twesume
1. Start following people and companies for whom you would like to work.

2. Let people know in a direct message that you're looking for an opportunity and follow up immediately with your twesume, said Allison Hemming, president of the Hired Guns talent agency in Manhattan.

3. Avoid a laundry list of skills on your twesume. "Let people know what you do best in the world . . . let a little bit of personality show through," Hemming said.

4. Besides industry knowledge and original thinking, show a personal side in your tweets, so people will "feel a connection and not see you as just an idea machine or information portal," said Deb Dib, an executive career consultant in Medford.

5. Include search engine optimization terms in your Twitter bio, said Dib, to make it easier for recruiters to find you.

Check out job listings on sites like Tweetmyjobs.com and Twitterjobsearch.com.

Recent twesume postings at twitter.com/TheHiredGuns

@RichardCarey >digital media ninja for games, social media, web & mobile apps that make you smarter

@elegantthrifter Fabulosity synthesizer; Out-of-box idea guy; Make-it-happen inspirer; Result-oriented word wrangler.

@KEN_RUCK: End to end product development. Conception, modeling, development & marketing. You buy I fly. Your team or mine.

@johnrambow: Editor/writer will help you kill cliches, cut through the noise, and build your audiences, both on the web and off

@SilverFoxKO: @TheHiredGuns This is one who knows his head, selling widgets, cars or bread, keeping clients out of Red, making sure the word is spread.